Professor Vasilis Maglaris National Technical University of Athens  School of Electrical & Computer Engineering  Division of Communication, Electronics & Information Systems

August 2005

Professor Maglaris was born in Athens , Greece in 1952. He received the Diploma in Mechanical & Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece in 1974, the M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now Polytechnic University ), Brooklyn , New York in 1975 and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from Columbia University , New York in 1979.

From 1979 to 1981 he was with the Network Analysis Corporation, Great Neck, New York , where he was involved in research and consulting projects on voice and data networking for private and government clients. In 1981, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at Polytechnic University , where he was promoted to Associate (tenured) Professor. In October 1989, he joined the faculty of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), where he is Professor at the Division of Communications, Electronics & Information Systems.

Professor Maglaris is teaching and performing research on electronic communication networks and distributed information systems (GRIDs), with focus on operation and management of distributed resources, performance models of Internet protocols, and security management of high-speed networks. He teaches courses on queuing theory, management and control of telecommunications networks, and tele-traffic source models at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering of NTUA.

At NTUA, he directs the Network Management and Optimal Design (NETMODE) Laboratory, which he founded in 1991. Its mission is to conduct R&D in Network and GRID management, with emphasis on the evaluation, monitoring and access control of distributed resources and services. The NETMODE Laboratory employs two additional Faculty Members, post - doctoral and post - graduate researchers and students in research programmes funded by European and National sources.

At NTUA he supervised five doctoral students who obtained their Doctoral Degree, while he is currently supervising eight additional doctoral candidates. Previously, in the United States , he supervised four post-graduate students who obtained their Ph.D. Degrees.

From 1991 to 1998 he was Vice-Chairman of the Research Institute of Communication and Computer Systems at NTUA and from 1997 to 2003 he served as Vice-Chairman of the University Committee on Computers and Communication Networks. The Committee advises the University Senate on information society related policy.

In 1993 he led an initiative to design and establish the integrated digital voice and data network covering all teaching, research and other facilities of the University Campus. The NTUA Local Area Network currently interconnects more than 5000 workstations in a Gbps Local Area Network. The same cabling infrastructure supports ISDN telephony (2500 ISDN handsets) and video conferencing facilities for remote teaching. Professor Maglaris supervised the upgrades and operations of the voice-data-video Campus network, as the Scientific Responsible of its Network Management Centre from its establishment in 1993 until May 2004.

Since 1995, he is a Commissioner with the National Telecommunications Commission (the Greek Telecommunications National Regulatory Authority); for seven years he served as a member of the National Parliamentary Committee on Telecommunications Privacy of Greece (appointed as the technical expert). From 1995 to 1998, he was a National Representative of Greece in the Telematics Applications Programme Committee of the Commission of the European Union (DG XIII–Information Society Technologies).

From 1994 to 1996, he was the Executive Director of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF), a front research organisation consisting of six Research Institutes, also hosting the Greek National Documentation Centre and operating the largest library of scientific periodicals in Greece .

He served as a Commissioner with the National Telecommunications & Posts Commission (the Greek Telecommunications National Regulatory Authority) for two five-year terms (1995 – 2005) and for seven years as a member of the National Parliamentary Committee on Telecommunications Privacy of Greece (appointed as the technical expert). From 1995 to 1998, he was a National Representative of Greece in the Telematics Applications Programme Committee of the Commission of the European Union (DG XIII–Information Society Technologies).

Prof. Maglaris served as the Chairman of the Board of the Greek Research & Technology Network – GRNET, the National Research & Education Network (NREN) of Greece from its inception in September 1998 until June 2004. GRNET currently offers advanced Internet to all Universities, Technical Educational Institutes and National Research Centres of Greece, employing state of the art optical networking technologies. It is an active participant of the Trans-European Research & Education Network GEANT, a next generation Internet platform interconnecting more than 31 European NRENs. Under his guidance, GRNET was successful in establishing regional projects, integrating within European high-end electronic infrastructures the NRENs and GRID initiatives of Greece , Italy , Israel , Cyprus , Bulgaria , Romania , Serbia – Montenegro , F.Y.R. of Macedonia , Turkey , Albania , Bosnia & Herzegovina , Hungary , Croatia etc.

He delivered many lectures to industrial and academic audiences, authored more than one hundred research papers and actively participates in several Greek and European strategic planning committees.

Since October 2004 he was elected as the Chairman of the National Research & Education Networks Policy Committee (NREN PC). The Committee, apart from drafting policies for the combined next generation networking efforts in 31 Nations of the extended European Research Area, is responsible for the management and planning of the Trans-European network GEANT, including its inter-continental connectivity.